Receving two copies of message in this mailing list

[Matthew Seaman]

On Sun, Oct 17, 2004 at 11:17:13PM +1300, Ben Washington-Yule wrote:
> I have found that I am sent two copies of any message replying to a 
> question I have asked; they are identical except one has this footer:
> 
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"
> 
> Have I got an incorrect setting?

Standard practice on this list is to reply to both the list and
the original sender.  That's because:

    - the list is open to all -- it's pointed out as one of the first
      places to look for support in the standard Message of the Day
      (/etc/motd) which will be about the first thing you see when
      logging into a newly installed FreeBSD system.  So many of the
      questioners may well not be subscribed to the list.

    - replies to questions should always be copied to the list, as
      they will then be archived in several places around the net (not
      least http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions/)
      That collected knowledge is a very valuable resource which you
      should always search to make sure that your questions haven't
      been asked and answered before now.

The two messages you're seeing are the direct reply to you and (the
one with the extra footer) the reply delivered via the list.  There's
several ways of avoiding having to plough through everything twice.
First (and most obviously) you can alter your subscription settings
via Mailman.  Go to:

    http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions

Then type in your subscription e-mail address in the last text box on
that page and click the button beside it that says 'Unsubscribe or
edit options'.  On the next page, type in the password you used when
you originally subscribed and click on 'Log in'.  On the next page,
scroll down until you see the 'Avoid duplicate copies of messages?'
entry.  Click 'Yes' on the radio button to the righ hand side, then
click 'Submit My Changes'.  Et Voilà.

There are also tricks you can do with procmail to achive the same
effect.  But I'll leave describing that for another day -- it's easy
enough to find out how by googling and reading man pages.

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                       26 The Paddocks
                                                      Savill Way
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey         Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614                                  Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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